Yogi govt to bench non-performing IAS officers

Focus will be on officers above 50 years; laggards to be compulsorily retired after serving 3-month notice

In order to tighthen the noose around slack and corrupt bureaucrats, the Yogi Adityanath government has hastened the screening process of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers above the age of 50 years while also reviewing their past performance.

People who do not meet the criteria will be benched, i.e. compulsory retirement will be recommended after serving the stipulated three months’ notice period.

The deadline for the completion of screening process is September 15, days before the Yogi government completes its first 6 months in office on September 19.

Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Rajive Kumar had directed the state's appointment and personnel department to speed up the screening process, which has already breached its earlier deadline by several weeks.

A similar screening was conducted for the UP cadre Provincial Civil Service (PCS) officers above the age of 50 years with the screening committee recommending compulsory retirement of three PCS officers. However, the Yogi government is yet to take a call.

For the screening of IAS officers, a committee headed by the chief secretary has been constituted, which according to sources would also comprise a senior IAS officer of another state cadre for transparency.

The screening committee would review the performance of the UP cadre IAS officers and recommend action against officials with tainted service records.

The recommendation would be forwarded to the chief minister for possible action.

Such screening was also conducted in 2015 during the previous Akhilesh Yadav rule, however, no action was taken against any official.

With respect to the screening of state cadre officials, the Yogi government is actually toeing the line of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, which had rolled out the exercise after coming to power in May 2014.

The Modi dispensation has been holding such performance reviews with regards to officers of the central cadre and retiring those not conforming to set norms.

Under service rules, an officer above 50 years of age can be given a 3 month notice by the relevant authority for compulsory retirement, without citing any reason thereof. However, such norms had hitherto never been applied in UP even as allegations of patronage of select officials by the political masters have always been slapped on the government of the day by the opposition.

The state forest department has also terminated the services of 11 employees, including 7 forest rangers following a departmental screening. However, such screening for the Indian Forest Service (IFS) and Provincial Forest Service (PFS) officials of UP cadre has not begun yet, pending a decision at the state government level.